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IV. Protecting U.S. Borders

We owe the American people an air, land and sea defense of their
frontiers, not only against drugs, but terrorism, international crime and other
threats.

Barry R. McCaffreyDirector, Office of National Drug Control Policy
May 12, 1997

Protecting U.S. borders plays a central role in any effective international
crime-fighting strategy. This Strategy incorporates and builds upon specific
existing cross-border initiatives, such as the National Drug Control Strategy
and other presidential directives aimed at stemming the flow of aliens and
contraband across U.S. borders.

The Strategy calls for aggressive efforts to protect U.S. borders by
attacking and decreasing smuggling and smuggling-related crimes. Border
crossings serve as choke-points where criminals are vulnerable to detection and
capture. Effective enforcement activity along the borders not only reduces
smuggling-related crimes, but also denies international criminals resources they
need for other illicit activities. Information developed through effective
border enforcement also provides law enforcement agencies along our borders the
opportunity to create a bridge between detection of illegal border activities
and related investigations of criminal groups operating within the United
States.

B. Objectives

Enhance our land border inspection, detection and motoring capabilities
through a greater resource commitment, further coordination of federal agency
efforts, and increased cooperation with the private sector;

Improve the effectiveness of maritime and air smuggling interdiction efforts
in the transit zone;

Seek new, stiffer criminal penalties for smuggling activities; and

Target enforcement and prosecutorial resources more effectively against
smuggling crimes and organizations.

C. Programs and Initiatives

Safeguarding our nation's borders is one of the federal government's most
basic responsibilities. It is also one of our most daunting challenges, given
the historically open nature of our borders with our northern and southern
neighbors. Not only does the sheer size of the frontier make this a major
undertaking, but improvements in transportation and trade relations have led us
to increase border protection efforts.

The federal government maintains over 300 ports of entry, including
airports, where customs and immigration officials inspect inbound and outbound
individuals and cargo. The United States-Canada border is the most open free
trade border in the world, and our bilateral trade relationship is the largest
in the world. The length of the United States-Canada and United States-Mexico
borders makes them inviting targets for illegal border crossing. The nation's
land and sea borders altogether stretch a total of 9,600 miles. In 1996, more
than 400 million people entered the United States, up from 225 million in 1980.
Five million commercial trucks and four million ocean containers also arrived in
the United States. Increased pressure on our borders has created new dangers
that smugglers, terrorists and other criminals will slip through and onto our
streets. Virtually all cocaine and heroin -- and a majority of marijuana --
sold and consumed in this country is produced abroad. Smuggling operations,
increasingly run by organized crime groups, sneak tens of thousands of illegal
immigrants into the United States. Every year, smuggling of drugs, illegal
firearms, stolen cars and child pornography present formidable challenges which
the Strategy addresses.

Stretching more than 2,000 miles, the United States-Mexico border has been
plagued by drug and contraband smuggling, violent crime and illegal immigration.
A majority of the narcotics and dangerous drugs seized in the United States has
passed through Mexico, and over half of all illegal immigrants in the United
States originated from that country. In fiscal year 1997, border authorities
apprehended approximately 1.36 million aliens attempting to cross the Southwest
border illegally. The Southwest border is also a transshipment point for
contraband being smuggled out of the United States, including stolen motor
vehicles, goods stolen from interstate commerce, illegal firearms, and illicit
currency (primarily the proceeds of drug trafficking). Outbound enforcement is
thus a key component to attacking these crimes.

The Southwest Border Initiative

In 1993, the Administration launched a comprehensive plan to crack down on
drugs, violent crime and smuggling along the Southwest border. The plan - the
Southwest Border Initiative - involved a major expansion in federal law
enforcement personnel, augmented aid to state and local law enforcement,
increased cooperative efforts with Mexican law enforcement officials, deployed
additional state-of-the-art detection and surveillance technology, and
coordinated the overall U.S. effort more effectively.

Under the Southwest Border Initiative, more than 550 new prosecutors and
1,200 new immigration officers have already been dedicated to combating violent
crime, drug trafficking, illegal immigration and smuggling along this border.
Federal funds also have been directed to local communities along the border to
hire hundreds of new police officers. This plan will continue to be implemented
vigorously and, within projected agency budget targets, will be expanded to
include new resources and new technology as they come on line.

Recent increases in law enforcement efforts along the Southwest border have
helped to generate dramatic results.

Between 1994 and 1995 serious crime dropped approximately 30 percent in San
Diego and approximately 20 percent in Brownsville, Texas. After the deployment
of new inspection techniques by the Customs Service, narcotics seizures
increased by 24 percent in 1996 alone. As we continue to strengthen patrol of
our southern border, we will improve efforts along other border regions, which
are increasingly gaining the attention of smugglers as our Southwest border
efforts thwart their criminal actions.

In addition, since 1995, federal law enforcement agencies along the
Southwest border have intensified efforts to identify, investigate, prosecute
and remove law enforcement officials stationed along the border who are involved
in corrupt activities or who use their positions of trust to facilitate illegal
activity. These efforts include investment of resources and manpower by federal
agencies and the creation of public corruption task forces and interagency
working groups to form a strong, unified response to corruption along the
border.

Deploying New Detection and Identification Technologies

To combat increasingly sophisticated smugglers, more sophisticated detection
and identification technology will be used along our borders. Advanced
technology has been deployed both at official ports of entry and along open
stretches of the borders to leverage patrol and inspection teams' skills in
preventing or responding to illegal entry. For example, night scopes and hidden
seismic, metallic and infrared sensors are being installed, and helicopters are
being deployed, along the Southwest border.

As surreptitious alien entry by land, sea and air becomes more difficult,
smugglers are forced to try a different tack such as coming through ports of
entry with fraudulent documents. The Strategy calls for law enforcement to use
advanced technologies, including database programs that allow inspectors to sift
out low-risk travelers and concentrate on more highly suspect entrants.
Further, deploying our portable computerized biometric and fingerprint systems
will allow for quicker identification of smugglers and other criminals.

High energy x-ray imaging equipment that allows inspectors to probe
containers for the presence of contraband quickly and effectively is also being
used increasingly. The presence of this new technology at ports of entry
contributed to a 115 percent increase in contraband seizures along the Southwest
border between fiscal year 1995 and 1996, with cocaine seizures up five-fold.
The Customs Service operates four truck x-ray systems along the Southwest
border, one prototype mobile truck x-ray system, and one prototype gamma ray
system. Since becoming operational, the four truck x-ray systems have been
involved in 150 drug seizures totaling over 18,000 pounds of drugs. Customs
plans to double the number of such systems along the Southwest border by the end
of 1998.

Cooperation with the Private Sector

To assist in interdicting narcotics smuggling at our land, air and sea
borders, the Customs Service developed the Carrier Initiative Program and the
Business Anti-Smuggling Coalition, joint efforts between Customs and the
transportation industry through which legitimate carriers strengthen their
cooperation with law enforcement authorities. Presently, 3,900 carriers have
signed agreements under these programs. Through these agreements, Customs
provides expert advice on how to secure carrier operations against smugglers,
and the carriers provide Customs with valuable intelligence information. In
fiscal year 1997, information from these two programs resulted in 74 seizures
totaling 12,700 pounds of narcotics. In 1998, Customs is expanding this program
to South America. There, Customs officers will assist exporters, carriers,
manufacturers and other businesses by performing security site surveys,
developing and implementing security programs, conducting post-seizure analyses,
fostering information exchange, and providing guidance on technology deployment
and application, all to safeguard legitimate trade from being used to smuggle
narcotics.

The Customs Service also employs a strategy called the "investigative
bridge" that focuses its investigative resources on the transportation
organizations operating from various command and control centers around the
country. This approach seeks to draw a complete picture of drug smuggling
organizations and individuals involved from the trucks or trucking companies
used in the initial border crossing to the point in the United States where the
drugs are distributed, and, in reverse, from the point in the United States
where the drugs are sold to the means used to transport the proceeds out of the
country.

2. Improving the Effectiveness of Maritime and Air Smuggling
Interdiction Efforts in the Transit Zone

The Coast Guard and Customs Service, with assistance from the Department of
Defense, regularly conduct maritime interdiction operations against drug and
migrant smuggling. These agencies will combine efforts with other federal
agencies as well as foreign coastal forces to provide a maximum return on
resources expended. The Administration has launched a series of initiatives to
create effective interdiction and investigative capabilities that disrupt
smugglers' sea and air routes.

The Caribbean has long been a particularly popular smuggling route. The
second most significant drug trafficking route into the United States, after the
Southwest border, is through the Caribbean, specifically Puerto Rico and the
U.S. Virgin Islands. In response to this threat, in March 1996, the
Administration launched Operation Gateway, a Customs led program which combines
over 600 personnel from 26 federal, state and local agencies, complemented by an
intelligence coordinating center. Gateway's goal is to secure the waters and
airspace around these U.S. territories from narcotics traffickers. Customs
aircraft fly radar patrol operations, conduct surveillance and help capture
suspect aircraft and vessels. In its first year of operation, Gateway resulted
in a 32 percent increase in Customs cocaine seizures over the previous year.
Simultaneously, the Coast Guard and Defense Department are joining forces with
the British and Dutch governments to create a 36-ship interdiction fleet that
aggressively patrols the Caribbean for smuggling vessels.

Operation Frontier Shield, an interagency, international maritime
interdiction effort spearheaded by the Coast Guard, has had notable success
interdicting drugs and other contraband moving through Puerto Rico and the U.S.
Virgin Islands since its inception in fiscal year 1997. In its first year,
Frontier Shield forces seized 23 vessels transporting 31,127 pounds of cocaine,
arrested more than 100 suspects, and disrupted 17 additional deliveries of
approximately 37,400 pounds of cocaine. It also reduced the flow of cocaine to
Puerto Rico by an estimated 46%. The combined street value of Frontier Shield
seizures and disruptions exceeds $2.4 billion.

3. Targeting Enforcement and Prosecutorial Resources More Effectively
Against Smuggling Crimes and Organizations

Attacking Alien Smuggling

The nation's borders must be secured against illegal alien smuggling
activities. The UN estimates that as many as four million people are smuggled
into foreign countries each year, generating up to $7 billion annually in
illicit profits for criminal syndicates. It is U.S. policy to interdict all
illegal alien smuggling at the border, to divert all incomplete attempts to
cross the border illegally, to repatriate all illegal aliens caught within our
borders and to prosecute and punish illegal alien smugglers. By interdicting
migrants before they enter the United States, they can be returned quickly to
their countries of origin without the costly processes required if they enter
the United States. In fiscal year 1996, the Coast Guard interdicted over 9,000
migrants at sea, thereby saving taxpayers an estimated $30 million in detention
and deportation costs. To enhance our efforts against alien smuggling, federal
agencies will improve their collection and dissemination of intelligence about
overseas alien smuggling operations.

Effective border defense also plays a vital role in fighting international
crime beyond halting the flow of illegal aliens. As our land, sea and air
defense improves, aliens still seeking illegal entry increasingly resort to
sophisticated smuggling operations. These operations have links to organized
crime, drug traffickers and traffickers in women and children. Some illegal
aliens carry narcotics to pay their way. Smuggling is also a source of funds
for organized crime groups who use these funds to finance other illicit
activities. For instance, the Coast Guard estimates that smugglers charge
approximately $6 million to ferry one large boat load (150 people) of illegal
Chinese aliens across the Pacific. A strong response to alien smuggling will
pay dividends by halting the larger problem of international crime.

Experience shows this aggressive approach is a successful one. Since 1993,
the Administration has coordinated the interdiction and repatriation of
approximately 3,000 illegal Chinese aliens on 14 vessels. In 1995, federal
prosecutors in five districts along the Southwest border brought 563 alien
smuggling cases -- a 69 percent increase over the previous year. Anti-smuggling
apprehensions by the Border Patrol also were up -- five-fold in San Diego --
over 1993 levels.

The Administration is requesting over $280 million for new border-related
initiatives. These funds will place 1,000 new Border Patrol agents on the front
lines and equip them with state of the art infrared scopes and night vision
goggles. They will also support programs to detain and remove aliens, including
criminal aliens.

The United States also is stepping up efforts in five areas to combat
smuggling away from our borders: (1) providing model legislation to other
countries; (2) conducting training overseas for border patrol and
immigration officials; (3) providing automated visa "lookout" systems
to source countries; (4) enhancing information sharing about alien smuggling
operations and trends among federal agencies and, where possible, with other
countries; and (5) conducting public awareness campaigns in source and transit
countries on the dangers of alien smuggling.

Halting Smuggling Out of the United States

The Administration will also seek further criminal penalties for certain
specific acts of outbound smuggling. First, the laws should be improved to
increase the cost of smuggling contraband out of the United States. While
Congress long ago created a general criminal statute for illegal importation
activity, no equivalent general statute exists for illegal exports. Current
criminal export statutes deal only with narrow, specific issues such as illegal
exports of munitions or technology. New legislation is required to create a
general criminal statute covering all export activity conducted contrary to law.

Another target is illicit trafficking in liquor and tobacco, a major source
of revenue for organized crime. A steep excise tax on liquor in Canada has
created a large black market for spirits smuggled in from the United States.
Monies obtained through this market strengthen organized crime and finance other
illegal activities, such as money laundering, alien smuggling, narcotics
trafficking and illegal firearms trafficking. The Strategy seeks to combat
liquor smuggling by giving federal officials new powers under the ICCA to stop
illegal liquor trafficking as soon as the spirits are shipped in violation of
state or federal law. Recommended legislation would also close a loophole by
prohibiting merchandise smuggling into foreign countries by means of vehicles or
aircraft (in addition to the existing prohibition against smuggling via vessel)
and by modifying statutes that currently hamper Customs' authority to search
outbound mail for currency, monetary instruments, and contraband.

Between 1.4 and 1.6 million automobiles are stolen in the United States
every year. The National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), a private investigative
organization, estimates that 200,000 of these vehicles, valued at approximately
$1 billion, are taken out of the United States. This serious property crime
results not only in the loss of personal vehicles but in higher insurance rates
as well. In fiscal year 1997, Customs recovered 2,119 stolen vehicles worth
over $35 million.

Law enforcement agencies will mount increased efforts to interdict these
stolen vehicles at our nation's borders, and the Department of State is
intensifying its efforts to increase the number of treaties that provide for the
return of these vehicles to the rightful owners when they are discovered in
foreign countries. To this end, the Department of State has negotiated, and
will continue to negotiate, stolen vehicle recovery treaties with those
countries -- primarily in Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe -- into
which the majority of stolen U.S. vehicles are smuggled. The FBI is also
working with Customs officials to process quickly the vehicle identification
numbers of cars presented for export at our nation's seaports and to identify
and stop those that have been reported stolen. New technology currently being
tested at the Port of Miami also shows great promise. It allows inspectors to
scan a cargo container for the presence of a car while the container is being
weighed, a process that does not delay the flow of commerce. The Department of
the Treasury is working with Mexican government officials representing the
commerce and finance ministries on a four-part program to improve control over
legitimate movement of automobiles across the border and to deal with large
scale trafficking in stolen automobiles. This cooperative effort will include
Mexican access to information on vehicles reported stolen in the United States.

4. Seek New and Stiffer Criminal Penalties for Smuggling Activities

The Problem of Portrunning

As law enforcement officials make it tougher for criminals to slip
undetected across our borders, smugglers are becoming increasingly daring in
their willingness to confront inspectors head on. Such activity includes "port-running,"
intentionally evading inspections by driving through ports of entry without
stopping, which puts federal officials and civilians alike at risk of injury.
The Administration has successfully used construction of physical barriers in
the fight against port- running. More must be done to deter and punish this
dangerous practice. Similarly, if a suspect vessel fails to "heave to,"
that is, to slow to facilitate a law enforcement boarding, the Coast Guard must
first fire a warning shot across the bow and then disable the vessel if it does
not respond. While there are civil penalties for failing to respond to a "heave
to" command, no criminal equivalent currently exists to cover such activity
or crimes of violence committed in the course of evading border controls. The
proposed ICCA would establish a specific criminal penalty for port-running, as
well as enhancing existing criminal penalties for related activities. Such
penalties are needed to deter vessels from fleeing Coast Guard, INS and Customs
interdiction efforts and jettisoning contraband and evidence in the process.
Legislation is also required that would punish individuals who provide false
information to boarding officials. Sanctions are needed to compel individuals
to provide truthful data regarding the vessel's destination, origin, ownership,
registration, nationality, cargo and crew.